


Invisible

by HyperKey



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Angst, Emotional, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, oneshots, probably AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-06-01 22:13:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6538234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperKey/pseuds/HyperKey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose is being stalked by someone she knows from work.  On Hiatus until further notice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A collection of oneshots that somehow ended up in a continuous fic. I don't yet know where this is going or if it'll make much sense in the long run, but these are fun to write.  
> Hope you enjoy them as well.
> 
> I love comments, so feel free to add what you're thinking :D

Jack paused folding the laundry when the front door opened and slammed shut not two seconds later. Way louder than needed, way more urgent. John was playing at a friend’s place and he still had two hours before he should have been home. Was it Rose? It was a little too early for her to be home.

“Rose?” He asked as he stood and peeked into the hallway.

The woman was standing completely still, she was breathing heavily, and he could see how fast her heart was beating. She was shaking, sweating, eyes wide and full of fear. When she noticed him standing there, she flinched, jumped backwards with a squeak.

He frowned, not quite sure what this reaction was supposed to mean, but something had scared her and he was almost certain that it couldn’t have been him. The tiny hint of doubt lingered for a moment longer.

“Jack…” she whispered when she closed her eyes and the tension left her body as she exhaled a shaky breath.

“What happened?” He asked, curious and worried. Rose wasn’t the type to get scared of anything when it didn’t involve her family.

She shook her head, ran a hand through her hair and walked up to him. Slowly she placed her head on his chest and carefully wrapped her arms around him. “…I’m just imagining things, I probably didn’t sleep enough.”

“Rose?” He asked, knowing that she was hiding something. Over the years he had learned to tell the changes in her voice when she was lying or hiding something. Her lies were harmless by now; usually she lied to coworkers when they invited her to somewhere.

“I don’t know…” She muttered. “There was this guy who seemed to show up everywhere I was today… and on the way home this car seemed to tail me…” Rose regretted that she had told him, when he tensed.

“I was probably imagining it, just forget about it.” She quickly said.

He growled. “And if you weren’t imagining it? Who could it be?”

“Jack…” She sighed, let go of him and looked at his face. “It’s nothing.”

Now he glared. “I don’t care if it’s nothing. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

She just nodded, couldn’t hide that she felt relieved. “…It might actually be someone I know.” She then almost whispered.

“Who?” Jack asked immediately.

“A former co-worker… he was fired a few months ago, I told you about it.”

Jack thought about it for a moment, then nodded to himself as he headed back into the living room followed by his wife. “Something about harassing one of his coworkers, right?”

She nodded. “Maybe he wants revenge now.”

Jack sat down on the couch, returned to fold the laundry. Wordlessly Rose settled down next to him and helped. “Why only you? I thought he harassed everyone.”

Rose paused, stared at John’s t-shirt in her hands. “…He tried to make a move on me, actually.” She muttered silently, knew she was moving on very thin ice. Anything to make Jack think he wasn’t worth enough to be with her could blow him up. It had happened often enough now. He never meant to get angry, he was always regretting it afterwards, but Rose knew that the conflict inside him would never truly go away. He just didn’t feel worthy enough to be loved. Still, this time he stayed calm and just lifted an eyebrow.

“Well, you told him you’re not interested…, right?” Rose could hear the slight uncertainty in his voice and almost felt sorry that she had brought this topic up at all. But she realized that he was the only one she could talk to who wouldn’t ask unnecessary questions about it.

“Of course I did.” She answered, folded the shirt and put it on the pile of John’s clothing, then she rested her hands in her lap and hung her head slightly. “…but he wouldn’t listen.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Once more she regretted saying anything when Jack froze.

“What did he do?” He sounded alarmed now, upset.

“He didn’t… actually do anything… bad.” She tried to wiggle out of it, knew she had already told too much to find lies now.

“But he did _something_.” Jack concluded.

Rose closed her eyes, wished she wouldn’t have to tell him, but she had been carrying this around with her for months now, and this seemed to be a good time to finally tell him what really happened before she reported her co-worker. And why she seemed to be more on edge than usual.

“I was on the way to the restroom… and he waited there for me, asked me out on a date. I refused,” she quickly added, afraid Jack might jump to conclusions. “Then he took my arm and dragged me into the men’s restroom…” She paused there, carefully looked at her husband who stared at her with a slightly shocked expression. He didn’t seem angry or confused, just baffled at what she was telling him.

“…he kissed me.” She hissed, voice full of disgust. “I slapped him, yelled at him… He actually ripped my blouse apart…” she shivered at the memory, helplessly looked at her husband. “I threatened to call the police… that must’ve scared him and he let me go… I left work early that day, you remember?”

Jack nodded, of course he remembered. Rose never left work early, that was why he still remembered it quite clearly. On that day she had looked very bad. She had told him she wasn’t feeling well and just went to bed. The next day she was back to her usual self. He hadn’t suspected a thing.

“Why didn’t you tell me…?” He asked silently, sounded almost disappointed.

Rose hung her shoulders, leaned against him and closed her eyes when he wrapped his arms around her. “I couldn’t believe this actually happened… Jack I’m an independent woman… I can defend myself… or that’s what I thought.” She muttered, gently took the arm he had moved in front of her, rested her head on it. She swallowed the tears as they filled her eyes with the words she wanted to tell him for months now.

“I… I was terrified to go to work…” she whispered. “I can’t believe I’m saying this… I love my job… but I was so scared he’d try something again, even more after I filed the report… and now…”

Jack pulled her closer, buried his face in her hair. “…I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“Why?”

“I… didn’t notice.”

She shook her head. “That’s not your fault…” She sighed, her mood lighting up again. “…I didn’t want you to know.”

“Why…?”

She turned around to him, gave him a tiny smile and gently brushed the hair out of his face. “I didn’t want you to think I couldn’t handle this on my own.”

He looked at her with sad eyes, an expression that almost broke her heart. “You could have just talked to me…” He whispered, another sentence already on his lips. Rose knew what he was going to ask, but he changed his mind at the last second. “I could have protected you…”

“That’s not what you wanted to say, right?” She said silently, carefully.

He knew she waited for what he really wanted to ask her, knew she wouldn’t let him go until he had asked it. He was silent for a long time, avoided her gaze. She didn’t push him, just waited patiently.

“Do you trust me…?” he eventually asked, so silent she almost missed it.

“I do.” She replied immediately. “And that’s why I told you now… I… wasn’t ready to tell you…” She admitted. “…telling means remembering…”

“I know…”

She smiled. He knew that better than anyone else. “It was a terrifying experience for me, a situation I couldn’t control. I’m glad I told you now. I feel better.”

A tiny hint of a smile crossed his lips. “So the guy who followed you is your ex-coworker?”

She nodded. “He’s been following me all day, even into the grocery store… probably to find out where I live…”

“He’ll be in for a _real_ surprise if I see him creeping around here.” Jack growled, he was dead serious about it.

“…Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She muttered.

He hugged her again, this time with a real smile. “So punching him is alright?”

“Jack…” She warned, but smiled anyway.

“Alright, alright… I’ll behave and just call the police.”

She chuckled and ran her hands through his hair. “But you’ll still pick me up from work?”

“There’s no way I’ll leave you alone now.”

“And what about John?”

“I’ll take him with me, of course.”

Rose smiled now, happy that she had finally been able to tell him what had bothered her for so long.


	2. Chapter 2

Rose shivered, despite being carried bridal style, despite the evening being relatively warm. She was freezing, not because she was cold. Trembling with fear, panic, everything at once. She pressed the tissue to her face, tried to get her nose to stop bleeding, tried to stop the tears. They wouldn’t stop, the sobs wouldn’t quiet down.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered.

 The plastic bag he was carrying rustled in the slight breeze, footsteps behind them. She gripped his shirt tighter, bit her lip, closed her eyes and shook her head. She couldn’t tell him. Not yet. Her heart was racing, fear still so clear. Nothing could scare her. Nothing. But this.

He held her tighter. “I’m here.” He whispered as he sped up his steps. “I’ll protect you.” He promised. “I’ll find who did this. And I’ll make then pay.”

She didn’t respond, just bit her lip, leaned against his jacket. She had been worried about getting blood over it, but now she didn’t give a damn anymore. She needed to be closer. She could hear his heartbeat, it was about as fast as hers. Was he scared too?

“Jack…” she whispered, her voice cracking. “Thank you… thank you…” she didn’t know what else to say. Had she ever felt so grateful for him to be there? Had there ever been a need for him to save her like this? Had he even saved her? She wasn’t sure. Her head was hurting. Someone had attacked her. Probably. They had been after her purse. Did they run away? They must have. Otherwise he wouldn’t promise to make them pay. They got the purse.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered again. His voice was cracking too.

She could see his car. The door was open. A small miracle it was still there at all. He must’ve jumped out of it, he had probably seen it all. Maybe the attacker had thought she was a whore… standing there alone in the night, waiting. She had been waiting for her husband to pick her up after she had been out with friends. And then this.

“It’s not your fault…” she muttered. “I should’ve stayed inside…”

He walked up to the car, opened the passenger’s side door and carefully sat her down on the seat, then he crouched down, took her face into his hands. She thought he was going to cry, he looked like it for a second or two. She wrapped her shaking arms around his neck, held him close. She gripped his jacket as tightly as she could, buried her head in his shoulder. She was so scared, so incredibly scared.

“I’ll get you to a hospital…” he whispered. She clawed his shirt at that.

“Don’t leave me alone!” She begged desperately, fear creeping up on her again. Anything but being alone. Anything.

“I won’t.” he muttered. “I… I just need to get into the car, alright?”

He was slightly overwhelmed with the situation. This wasn’t like Rose.

When he was in the car and driving down the roads to the next hospital, he was holding her hand. Her nails dug into the artificial skin, probably damaging it. He didn’t care.  He had never seen her like this. No. Once. Once before. She was frightened and confused, but that had different reasons. It hadn’t involved her. At least not directly.

“Whatever they say… I won’t stay there.” Rose eventually declared.

“That’s alright.” He muttered. She didn’t seem to be too hurt, but he was worried about the cut on her forehead. That needed to be patched up properly. “I won’t leave you alone.”

“…It was a stupid idea to go out like this…” She flicked her dress. “Why did I think it was alright to go out like this...”

“Rose...” he whispered. “These people don’t need a reason…”

She ran a hand through her hair, a choked sob escaping her. “I know…” she tried to stop the tears, failed miserably. “…I’m… I’m so scared…” she finally admitted.

“I…saw the guy.” Jack muttered. “Dark hair, beard… looked kinda run down…I… should have chased him…”

“He ran the moment he saw you.” Rose told him.

“Do you know who it was?”

She hung her head, bit her lip and nodded. “I know.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Rose dropped the plate when the doorbell rang. She froze completely for a moment, held her breath. John tilted his head in confusion and Jack slowly stood. The boy was starting to pick up on the unusual behavior of his mother.

“I’ll get it.” Jack muttered, headed out of the kitchen and opened the front door.

Tyler grinned up at him held out his hand to high five him. “Good morning!” the boy greeted him.

Jack smiled at him and let him in. “We’ve been a little slow today, not done with breakfast yet.”

“Awesome!” the boy exclaimed, fired his backpack to the side and dashed into the kitchen. He stole the toast off of Jack’s plate and started to eat it. “You’re not eating this anymore, aren’t you? I skipped breakfast ’cause my parents were fighting.”

“Sure, go ahead, wanna move in too?” Jack muttered sarcastically.

Tyler turned around to him. “Can I?!”

John sighed loudly. “Dad, Tyler can’t move in here, there’s no space.”

“Oh but if there was space, he could?” Rose interfered now as she had finished collecting all the shards and threw them into the trashcan.

“Sure.” John shrugged.

Jack shook his head with a scoff and nodded towards the clock above the door. “You two will be late.”

The two boys quickly rushed out of the building, Jack could hear Tyler thank him for the toast and soon enough the two were out of sight. That was when Jack walked up to Rose who still stood next to the sink. She flinched when she noticed him and he backed away.

“…Sorry.” He apologized.

She shook her head. “Not your fault.” She tried to explain. “It’s just…”

“You’ve gotten really jumpy.” He stated. “Are you sure you will be fine when I leave next week?”

She laughed, flashed him a smile. “Of course I will be, don’t be ridiculous.”

His didn’t smile back. Instead, he crossed his arms and frowned at her. “Why should I believe you?”

“I’ve had worse.” She replied. “It’s nothing.”

He walked up to her, sighed. “That lie won’t work.”

“Huh?”

He grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t play dumb. I’ve played these tricks on you for years. I know they’re lies.”

“What are you talking about?” She tried to back away, he didn’t let her. He stared deeply into her eyes.

“You’re not fine. Stop pretending!” he hissed. “You think I don’t notice this? Every time I enter the room you flinch, you jump, you back away. You’ve screamed when I walked in on you in the bathroom. Twice. You’ve never done that before. You’re scared, Rose, even John figured it out by now.”

She glared back. “What do you mean ’even john’?”

“He noticed his mother isn’t the way he knows her. Kids sense when something’s wrong. You know that, you know it better than me.”

“Jack, there is nothing wrong.” She took his hands off her shoulders and turned to open a cabinet. “We need flour.”

“Don’t change the subject.” He growled.

“I’m  not-“

He slammed a fist on the counter. She jumped backwards and screamed. “Denying it won’t change a damn thing!” he yelled. “You know how that works!”

She had pressed herself as close to the wall as she could, her breath fast, eyes wide. He took a step backwards, lets his hands sink and stared at the ground. “…I… I’m trying to not let it get to me.” He muttered. “…but it’s hard… I know you’re not scared of me… well, I hope you’re not… but…” he sighed. “I’m sorry… I just… I don’t want to leave you like this.”

“It’s not your fault…” she eventually replied.  She slowly relaxed, walked up to him. “You’re right. I am scared.”

“Of me?” he asked silently.

She shook her head, wrapped her arms around him. “…I’m scared that they creep up on me… that I get attacked again.”

“You’re safe here.” he tried.

She scoffed. “Yeah until you leave. Then it’s just me and John. You think I can defend him? I can’t even defend myself.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “I can ask-“

“No.” She shook her head, looked up at him. “I can do this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“Rose…” he sighed.

“What?” She snapped back at him. “You think I can’t do it?!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“But that’s what you think, right?!” She yelled back at him. “You think I’m a crybaby, that I can’t defend myself, that I am scared shitless because some guy I barely know attacked me?!”

“Rose!” he yelled, grabbed her shoulders once more and shook her slightly. “I think you’re a very strong woman… the strongest I know. I’m not the best at reading people, but I know my wife. And Right now my wife is acting very strangely and I want to help her.”

“So you can’t stand me being scared? Is that it?”

“Rose, I want to help you!”

“By leaving me alone with John while there’s some guy out there that wants me dead?! Is that how you’re going to help?!”

“I said I could talk to-“

She pushed him away. It had little effect on him, but he took a step backwards anyway. “And then what? Stay here a week longer and leave again?!”

“It’s my job…” he tried to argue, hung his shoulders as he sighed. “I can stay longer, but I don’t know about payment then…”

She grabbed his shirt. “I don’t care about the fucking money! Just stay here! I can’t take this anymore!”


	4. Chapter 4

A scream woke him up. He immediately sat up, disoriented for a moment or two. Frantically he looked around; found Rose sitting on the floor, clutching her blanket. She stared at him with wide eyes and everything about her showed that she was terrified of something. Slowly he reached for the light switch of the lamp on his nightstand. The soft light made everything less scary, he had learned that quite a while ago.

Tiredly he looked at her, suppressed a yawn. “You okay?” he whispered.

She ran a hand through her hair, nodded slightly. “Y-yeah… I think.”

“Nightmares?” he asked, even though the answer had been obvious to him.

Another nod, then she slowly crawled back into the bed. Slowly enough to make him suspicious. She was wearing that long nightgown too.  He remembered that she hated that one. Why she still had it was beyond him. He found it strange that she was wearing it too. She bit her lip as she moved, a tiny frown on her face.

“What happened?” he asked silently. Rose had avoided him most of the day by doing house work. He hadn’t found it too suspicious, it was her turn anyway. Now he wondered if the laundry really had to be done and the kitchen was rather clean anyway. There hadn’t really been a need to wash the cars either.

“Nothing.” She smiled at him and curled up back into the sheets.

“And the nightmare?”

“It wasn’t that bad.” She yawned.

“You screamed.” He muttered dryly.

“My nightmares are different.” She argued.

He turned off the lamp and slumped back down next to her. He was too tired to have an argument, but he was still worried.

When he moved an arm around her in an attempt to calm her, she took in a sharp breath, held it for a second and pushed his arm away. The gesture hurt him, she even turned around and faced her back towards him. It stung.

“Did… did I do something?” he asked silently, afraid of the answer.

“I’m just tired.” She muttered, inched away from him as much as she could and fell silent.

Despite being as tired as he was, he spent the rest of the night staring at her back, wondering what was wrong with her, why she was acting so distant and what the hell he had done wrong. She was obviously not fine.

The next few nights were the same. He contemplated about just leaving her sleep alone, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. It reminded him of darker days, things he didn’t want to do anymore. He had let her in, now she needed to let him in, but he had no idea how to get her to do that. She had always just told him what he needed to know, now that he thought about it.

He fell asleep lost in thought about what he could do for her.

When he woke the bed next to him was empty. The pillow and blanket missing too. He glared at the empty side. She had never done this before. Her books were gone from the nightstand, along with the glass of water she always kept there. He was almost angry when he got out of bed.

It was already past eight, John long in school, Rose should have been to work, but he found her sitting in the kitchen, head buried in her hands. She wasn’t even dressed. There was cold coffee in front of her, barely touched, as well has her breakfast. Cereals. He always questioned her taste, but he knew she didn’t eat cereals for breakfast.

She didn’t react at all even though he wasn’t exactly silent when he entered the kitchen. The doorframe always creaked when he walked through it, and the counter next to the door always jumped a tiny bit.

She didn’t move when he took her coffee and put it in the sink, not when he sat down next to her, but when he reached to the bowl with cereals, she grabbed his wrist and looked up. “Leave it. I eat it later.”

She had dark circles under her eyes, her hair a mess. Her eye lashes showed that she had cried. “Rose…” he said softly when he reached out to her.

She moved away from the touch, shook her head. “Don’t.” she warned.

He took his hand down, hung his shoulders. “What about work?”

“Called in sick.”

“You should sleep.”

She sighed. “I’m not really sick…”

He looked her in the eyes, knew his gaze was boring into her. He wanted it to be. “You haven’t slept properly in almost a week.” He reminded her.

“It’s nothing.”

He resisted the urge to take her hands and just looked at them. “Of course it’s something.”

“What makes you think that?”

He nodded towards the door. “You moved your bed to the couch.”

“I just didn’t want to wake you, that’s all.” She crossed her arms, leaned back in the chair.

He didn’t reply to that, stared out of the window. It was a rainy summer day, probably a bit chilly too. Slowly he stood, walked up to the fridge and opened it. He was slightly shocked to find that it was almost empty, save for milk and some vegetables. Was that why Rose was eating cereals? Or wanted to eat. He never liked the taste of soggy cereals.

“We need food.” He muttered into the fridge.

“I know.” She sighed. “I’ll head to the grocery store later.

“Did John have breakfast?”

“Of course he had! What do you think I am?!” she snapped at him.

He flinched, shocked at her reaction. “I… didn’t mean it like that, Rose.”

She sighed deeply, let her head sink onto the table. “I know… I’m sorry.”

He shut the fridge and sat back down. “What happened?” he asked, wished he knew how to get things out of her without sounding like he was begging. “Nightmares don’t come out of nowhere. I know you have a lot on your mind lately, but…”

“Nothing happened.”

“Rose…”

She looked up at him, glared. “What? If you’re too stupid to figure it out yourself, I don’t want to tell you!”

He was aware that he looked at her like a scolded child now, but he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t sure what he had done wrong, either. Instead, he just stood. “I’ll get the groceries…”

“Do that.” She hissed at him.


	5. Chapter 5

Rose didn’t want to be there. A small party arranged by the neighbors. Kids playing everywhere, their parents chatting, laughing. She never had a problem with crowds before and she even knew most of these people, why was she so anxious? Even Jack looked more relaxed than her, she thought. Her husband had somehow ended up in a conversation about cybernetics with the mother of one of John’s friends. Rose couldn’t quite piece together who she was the mother of.

Lost in thoughts she watched John and a few other kids kicking a ball around on the grass, shouting and laughing. She barely noticed that someone had settled down next to her. When the man handed her a glass she flinched violently and jumped to her feet.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to surprise you.” The man apologized.

Rose stared at him in horror for a second or two before she realized that it was the man that had moved in across the street just a few months ago. He and his wife had twins, both boys and barely two years old. They often left for a few days and she hadn’t bothered to ask them what that was about. It was none of her business. Jack left for long periods too, after all.

“I thought you could use a drink.” He smiled at her and held the glass out to her. 

Rose nodded her thanks and took it, sat down again. She didn’t want to drink anything here, especially no alcohol.

“You’re a jumpy one, huh?” the man laughed.

Rose couldn’t quite remember his name, but she just smiled. “Just stressed out.”

“Kids can be pretty stressful sometimes.” The man laughed. “Believe me I can’t remember how I made it this far with my two.”

Rose kept up her smile, polite and open but it never reached her eyes. “John is easy to handle.” She then said. “Work is a bit stressful these days.”

“Maybe you should take a break.” He suggested.

“I guess.” She was fumbling for something to talk about, things that usually never happened. She always knew what to talk about even with complete strangers. To her relief the man got called over by his wife and Rose was left alone on the bench she was sitting on.

A few minutes passed, then Jack settled down next to her. “I can’t believe I’m doing this…” He muttered.

“Doing what?” She asked silently.

He gestured to all the people. “This… this-“ he sighed in frustration. “I don’t even know most of them.”

Rose leaned against him, then remembered the glass she was still holding. She was about to just set it to the ground and forget about it when Jack took the glass and took a sip. “Tastes awful.” He commented.

She lifted an eyebrow and shook her head. “…It’s just champagne.”

“Guess I lost the taste for these things.”

“Good.” She scoffed and crossed her arms.

He grimaced at her and she punched his arm. “We should head back home, it’s getting chilly.”

Jack shrugged and stood, put the glass to the others and walked over to the small patch of grass where John was playing with his friends. He stood there for a moment and watched as they kicked the ball around in something that wasn’t quite a game with rules but just for fun.

It took a few minutes for the kids to notice him, then one of the boys tugged at John’s sleeve and pointed over to the man standing next to a tree. Soon enough John walked over to his father, slightly annoyed that they were going home already.

“Daaaad…” The boy complained. “It’s not even six yet…”

“But it’s getting dark and you still have homework to do.”

The boy crossed his arms. “I already did it.”

“Liar.” Jack smirked.

John kicked the grass in front of him with an annoyed snarl. “But-“

“No buts. We’re heading home.”

The boy hung his shoulders, sighed and walked past the man. “Fine…”

On the way Home john walked in front of his parents and kicked a stone, grumbling about the unfair life of a ten year old. Rose was slightly amused at that.

“…He doesn’t know how good of a life he’s having…” She whispered to her husband.

He chuckled. “Better he never finds out that it could be so much worse.”

“Thanks for going there with me… I know I wasn’t really myself the past weeks…” Rose apologized.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “If you’re ready to tell me what’s going on, I’m there to listen.” He offered.

Rose still couldn’t bring herself to tell him anything, but as the fear subsided so did the need for her to tell anyone. “I think it’s one of the new neighbors…” she eventually said.

“I thought it was a co-worker?”

“…I mean the one who attacked me… It was dark I’m not sure… but it could have been…”

“What makes you think that?”

She sighed. “One of them looked at me the whole time I was sitting on the bench… I know that sounds ridiculous-“

He shook his head. “It doesn’t. You wanna do anything about it? Finally tell the police?”

Rose shook her head. “No… I can deal with this on my own.”

“I’m not saying you can’t, I just don’t want you to be scared the whole time.”

“It’s okay, Jack. I’m okay now, really. It didn’t happen again, right?”

He lifted an eyebrow at that. “Is it blackmail?”

“Jack?”

“Did he threaten you? Or something worse?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “None of that. I don’t think it’ll happen again. Stop worrying about it.”

Jack decided that he wouldn’t want to have this argument in front of John when Rose unlocked the front door and they headed into the warmth of the building. John went to get his homework while Rose headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Jack lingered in the hallway for a moment, completely still.

Rose frowned at him when she saw him lean against the wall. “Jack?”

“Nothing, just a notification.” He informed her and headed upstairs.

Rose assumed he needed to switch some parts and didn’t bother thinking more about it. John settled down at the dining table to do his homework. A little later his father sat down next to him and started helping him.

After dinner John headed into the living room to play some games while Rose and Jack did the dishes. They both were silent, neither of them quite sure what to say. Rose stared out of the window, paused, then watched her husband as he dried the plates.

“…It is some sort of blackmail…” she eventually said. “…if I tell anyone what happened, they’ll go after John… that’s what they told me.”

Jack put the plate aside, glared at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know, okay?” she hissed at him, fired the cups into the soap water and made it splash at her and her husband. “I can deal with things happening to me… but not to John!”

“That’s why you didn’t want me to leave.” Jack concluded. “So I can play watchdog?”

“Jack…”

“What if they actually do something to him? How will they even know that you talked and _who_ are they anyway?!”

Rose growled in annoyance, took her hands out of the water and threw the towel at him. “You don’t understand.”

“What is this about, Rose? Just tell me already. I _will_ deal with them.”

“Yeah you’ll kill them and then what?”

“I…” he sighed, turned away from her and put the towel on the counter. “…and if I don’t?”

“Then they might get sent to jail.”

“So. It was _that_ bad?”

She hung her shoulders, bit her lip and nodded slightly. “I… I lied to you, Jack…” He froze, eyes wide, disappointment clear in his face.  “I tried to put it off… I tried to forget it, but it keeps coming back. My coworker… he didn’t just try to get met to sleep with him…”

Jack took in a sharp breath, about to say something when Rose held up a hand to silence him. “Not what you think.” She muttered. “…it was a few days after I filed the report because of that happened in the restroom…” she swallowed hard, looked at her husband for a moment, tears in her eyes. “He… “ She ran a hand through her hair, shook her head. “He tried to kill me…” she whispered.

Silence filled the room, only interrupted by the sounds John’s game made and the slight rain that was hitting the window now.

“…Why?” was all Jack asked.

“Because I ‘ruined his life’.” She answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

“He’s… still trying to kill you?”

She nodded slightly. “He still follows me around everywhere. He was there earlier too, but didn’t come close… probably because there were too many people.”

“We could move…”

She shook her head. “We just paid the house… I should just go to the police after all… but John…”

“He wouldn’t mind skipping school.” Jack muttered.

Rose smiled slightly. “Of course not.”


	6. Chapter 6

Rose flinched when someone blocked her way when she was about to get off the subway, she had picked a stop earlier as she wanted to stop by the book store she had found just a few days ago. Everything had worked out so well. She had reported the man who kept following her, and he had left her alone for a few weeks. And now he was standing there, blocking her path. The door closing signal was already sounding and she was rooted to the ground by fear.

“You’re not getting off here.” Her former coworker told her.

Rose looked around frantically. No one had noticed what was going on. She reached for her cell phone, but the man shook his head.

“You don’t want any trouble, do you?”

“Leave me alone.” Rose told him, louder to get attention of some people. Some even turned, but no one did anything. She had expected that. People where scared or didn’t care.

“I’ve left you alone. Now I’ll take what you won’t give me.” He muttered.

Rose noticed that he smelled of alcohol. It made her stomach turn, reminded her of very unpleasant moments. She wasn’t sure if this was better or worse yet, but she couldn’t really care when her former coworker grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the train at the station. She kicked out at him, her heeled pumps slipping off her foot as she stumbled after him. His grip was strong. Not nearly as strong as Jack’s, yet she couldn’t free herself.

“Let me go!” she yelled, tried to stop him by holding on to a lamppost. Her fingers slipped off of the post in seconds as he pulled her along. He dragged her up the stairs, didn’t bother telling her anything about what he was planning to do. She assumed he would finally get what he had wanted the first time he had approached her like this.

Would he kill her?

When they reached the end of the staircase, the man stopped in his tracks, almost let go of Rose, but the moment was too short for her to react to it. Another man was standing there, arms crossed. He towered over Rose’s coworker with a stern face.

“Let go of my wife.” Jack’s voice was silent and calm, but Rose could see how angry he was.

Rose barely had time to yelp when she was suddenly pushed down the stairs. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the impact, but when it came it was a lot softer and not at all painful. Still, the grunt that reached her ears didn’t sound too great.

Slowly she opened her eyes, the man that had pushed her gone from sight. Jack wasn’t there either. Rose frowned, then realized why the impact had been relatively painless. He had caught her, using himself as a shield. Slowly he sat up, rubbed his head.

“You okay?” he asked silently.

Rose could only nod, the fear pushing itself into her consciousness now. “How…how…” she could barely speak. Her voice was shaking as badly as the rest of her body.

He reached out to her face, gently brushed her hair behind her ear. “You told me to pick you up here, remember?”

She closed her eyes, nodded slightly and let her head sink onto his chest. “…I want this guy to disappear.”

He was silent for a moment before he replied, “I could take care of it…”

She looked at him, hung her shoulders. “…Scare him… j-just scare him.”

He nodded slightly, scrambled back to his feet and reached a hand out to pull her up. Once she was back to her feet she went to get her shoes, and then wrapped leaned against him as he out his arm around her shoulder and lead her down the road to the store she wanted to go to.

“He won’t come close when you’re there.” Rose concluded after a while. “…can we make him believe I’m alone, and then you’ll just… surprise him? Just like now?”

Jack sighed. “Not today…” he whispered. “I’m not sure I could keep cool if he shows up again today… how does this guy know where you are anyway?”

“I don’t know…” Rose muttered. “But it’s scaring the living daylights out of me…”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel train |D

 

He snapped awake when Rose suddenly kicked him in the side and screamed at him to get out of the room. Surprised and slightly shocked he jumped to his feet, reflexes kicking in as being jolted awake like this had always meant something dangerous. He needed long moments to realize that nothing especially threatening was actually going on, even when he was already standing in the hallway, pillow in his hands while Rose slammed the door shut behind him. He stared at the white door in the dark hallway, the only light coming from the small night light that was plugged into a socket in the wall to help John find the bathroom at night.

Jack wasn’t sure what had just happened. He couldn’t say that her kick hadn’t hurt, but that was more on an emotional level than physical harm. She had lashed out at him. The simple fact hurt more than any injury ever could.

Not knowing what to do he slowly headed downstairs, sat on the couch for a few minutes before he decided that he wouldn’t get any more sleep. While was brooding over why Rose had suddenly reacted like this he was hugging his pillow and stared at the dark TV screen. He wasn’t in the mood to put a movie on, just stared at the digital clock of the DVD player and watched the minutes tick by. He barely realized that he lost himself in thoughts until the sun was rising, nearly blinding him as the curtains weren’t closed.

He turned his gaze away, stared at the clock once more, then discarded the pillow and headed to the kitchen. Whatever he had done to get a reaction like that from Rose, maybe a nice breakfast could change her mind. His mind kept wandering, dread filled him. He must have done something. There was no way Rose would react like that if there hadn’t been anything. But why in the middle of the night?

Absentmindedly he rested a hand to the spot she had kicked. There wouldn’t even be a bruise. If she was going to deny it, he had nothing to prove. He wondered if he should even confront her about it. Whatever she was upset about must’ve been severe. Yet, no matter how often he thought about the past few days, he couldn’t find anything that justified such a reaction.

He almost dropped the cup he was holding when John entered the kitchen with a yawn. “Morning…” The boy was dressed and ready for school. Jack almost missed waking him up in the morning, yet today he was glad he didn’t have to do it. He was sure he would have forgotten it anyway.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” John commented when he settled down to eat his breakfast. “What’s the occasion for this feast? I thought your anniversary was in April…”

 “John,” Jack warned. “I’m not in the mood for dumb jokes today.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was no use to let his anger out at the boy. John didn’t mean any harm. He was joking if anything.

John rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. But next time you two fight in the middle of the night, at least keep it silent, okay? I needed two hours to fall asleep again. And I have a test today.”

“I’m sorry…” Jack muttered, turned away to look out of the kitchen window. “It won’t happen again.”

John huffed. “I hope so.” He hissed, climbed off his chair and went into the hallway to put his shoes and jacket on.

Jack kept staring out of the window. It was no surprise that John was grumpy like that. He didn’t blame the boy for it. “Good luck with your test…” Jack said, as the boy opened the front door. John grumbled something in return and shut the door with way more force than necessary. It was too early for him to leave, but Jack knew the boy would head over to Tyler’s place to get a decent breakfast there. And to avoid his parents fighting.

Jack wished he could just avoid it too. Pretend it didn’t happen. Yet he knew that doing that would only make it worse. He had done it too often to still turn a blind eye to the consequences.

With John out of the house, there really wasn’t anything he could do until Rose got up. Soon enough he heard her walking downstairs. He froze, held his breath. A sting of dread spread through him when the floor panel creaked at the kitchen door.

He felt her stare at him. He didn’t move, she didn’t say anything. He felt cold and somehow unwanted. Unnecessary. His presence wasn’t needed here. Rose could get by on her own.

“…Oh. You’re awake.” She commented after a minute or two.

He closed his eyes, turned his back towards her and reached for the cup he had filled with coffee. When he realized that his hands were shaking he discarded his plans and just crossed his arms. He stood there, unmoving, completely still.

Rose hadn’t moved either. The floor would have creaked if she had.

“John already left?” She asked then.

He only nodded, unable to find his words as his emotions ran wild. How would this end? Would they fight for real now? And for what reason? He swallowed hard before he finally turned to face her.

“…Did I do something…?” his voice was barely above a whisper, he couldn’t meet her eyes.

She lowered her gaze to the floor, shook her head. She was only dressed in her nightgown; Goosebumps covered her arms and legs. He almost walked over to her to warm her up, but with what had happened earlier still fresh in his mind, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“No…” she whispered. “It’s not your fault.”

“You… just kicked me-“ he held his breath once more. Voicing what she had done hurt even more than thinking about it. He felt his eyes sting with tears, but quickly blinked them away.

She lifted her head, eyes focused on him. She was pale, eyes sad and full of concern. “This… this wasn’t because of you, Jack…”

He bit his lip, turned away from her again. “…that doesn’t mean...” he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

“That it didn’t hurt.” She finished for him. “I know…” her voice full of regret she closed in the distance between them. “…I… You did nothing wrong…” she whispered, gently placed a hand on his arm.

“Then why…?” he whispered. He didn’t dare to look at her.

Rose leaned against the counter next to him, sensed that she wouldn’t achieve anything if she forced him to drop his guard. This was entirely on her and she had to fix it now. Fast.

“Lets go to the living room… I’ll explain…”

Reluctant he followed her, settled down on the couch while she sat on the ground. He didn’t question her, his thoughts too full of theories and possibilities that he had barely anything left to feel concerned about her.

“Jack…” She whispered as she grabbed one of the woolen blankets from the couch and wrapped herself into it. “…I woke up from a nightmare… I wasn’t thinking…”

That got this attention. His eyes focused on her, suddenly he seemed open minded enough to at least listen to her.

She ran a hand through her hair, then rested her forehead on her knees. “I keep lying to you…” she mumbled into the blanket. “…What happened at work… wasn’t the only thing.”

Jack frowned, unsure what she was getting at. “What do you mean?”

“…I told you about how he touched me in the restroom…my coworker…”

“Rose?”

She took in a shaking breath. “A few days later… he caught me off guard…” She pulled the blanket closer around her as if it was the only thing that could protect her from whatever she was going to say next.

“…He dragged me into the elevator and shut it off…”

Jack stayed silent, a terrible though worming itself into his mind. He had forgotten all about what had happened in the night. What was she going to tell him now? He almost didn’t want to hear it. Yet part of him needed this piece of information, wanted it. Whatever it was, he knew it was terrible enough to throw her off like this. And nothing ever threw this woman off. Nothing.

“…I…” she sighed. “…I… can’t say it…” she laughed humorlessly.

“Saying it means accepting it.” He echoed her own words. Words she had told him so often.

She looked up, met his eyes. “…You can guess what happened…, right?”

He knew the shiver he felt wasn’t real, but that didn’t make it feel any better. He felt cold as if someone had grabbed his soul with icy claws. He hated that feeling, and he was still surprised that there was always something worse that could bring it forth.

“…So he didn’t just harass you…” Jack concluded. He felt nauseous, defeated.

Rose slowly shook her head, exhaustedly leaned against the couch. Tears filled her eyes and she quickly tried to wipe them away. “I… I never felt so defenseless before… so stupid at letting this guy do what he wanted… I… I know I need to talk about it… but…”

Jack crouched down next to her, carefully placed his hands on her shoulders. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He had expected her to bat his hands away, but instead she just leaned in, wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry…” She hissed between sobs. “I shouldn’t have let this happen… I-“

“No.” He cut her off. “It’s not your fault.” He hated himself for his shaking voice. He was boiling with anger and he knew he wouldn’t leave a single bone of this man intact if he ever dared to show his face anywhere close to his wife again.

“...I’m sorry I took it out on you…” Rose silently apologized.

Jack shook his head. “I…understand why now… It’s okay.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long. I kind of hit a snag and really doubt my writing abilities at the moment... sorry for the absence.

Rose sighed happily when she exited the meeting room in the hotel she was currently staying at. It was nice to hone her skills a bit more and have some sort of vacation at the same time. Right now it was early in the evening, the sun beginning to set. She thought it was the perfect time to grab something to eat. While she headed to the elevator to get her purse she listened to the familiar footsteps behind her. Light but still somehow heavy. The shoes he was wearing only added to the sound.

When she had pressed the button for the elevator she turned to the man behind her. “How do you like it?” she asked.

He had his arms crossed the whole time, scanning the area with his eyes. Rose thought it had something eerie, seeing him actually doing what he usually only did at work. But she felt safe in his presence, protected but not shielded. He kept his distance and had waited outside the meeting room the whole four hours they had been in there. Minus the short break they had taken where she told him that it was okay to move around a bit. She wasn’t sure if he had ever taken a step away from the door.

“Seen fancier places.” He shrugged.

Rose rolled her eyes and showed him the keycard to open their room door. “This is pretty fancy already.”

“Keycards are fancy now?” he chuckled.

Rose shook her head with a smile and stepped into the elevator. He followed slowly, pressed the button for their floor and waited for the door to close. The elevator was on the outside of the building, giving them a scenic view of the landscape surrounding it.

“I always found them fancy.” Rose then muttered while she stared at her reflection of the glass, not quite noticing the soft blue hue the landscape was covered in. Early autumn evenings were not that special to her.

“What? Keycards?”

“Mhm.”

Jack smirked, leaned against the wall and watched the scenery, then the indicator. Once they reached their floor the both walked down the corridor in silence, until Rose purposefully pushed him a bit to the side. He pushed her in return and made her stumble. Instead of stopping there Rose actually made an effort to make him stumble too, but was unsuccessful. When she pouted at it he laughed silently.

“What?” he teased her.

“Nothing.” She huffed in mock annoyance and crossed her arms, walking a few steps in front of him until she had reached the door to her room.

With a frown she took a step backwards. “…The door is open.” She whispered.

Jack came closer, took her arm and pulled her away from the door. “I probably forgot to close it properly-“ Rose tried to explain, but he only put a finger to his lips and carefully inched closer to the door. When he was certain no one was watching them he kicked the door open with enough force to make the hinges creak but not enough to actually break it.

A man jumped at him and while jack was busy tackling him down he heard Rose squeak. He grabbed the man’s arms and twisted them to his back when he turned. A second man had grabbed Rose in a chokehold and pressed a cloth to her face.  He could see her weakening in seconds and pushed the man he was holding into the drawer to the right, then lunged at the second person. Her heard the cracking of bones when he ripped the man’s hands away from his wife. A pained howl shot through the room.

Jack caught his wife, was struck in the head by something hard and barely managed to shove Rose towards the double bed so she wouldn’t crash into the ground, before he stumbled and almost lost balance. He could feel the blood running down the back of his head, but barely paid attention to it when he tackled the man that was holding a bloodied bottle and was obviously not prepared to be taken down by a cyborg. Jack punched him in the head, didn’t watch him lose consciousness as he had already turned to the second man who seemed unsure whether to charge or to run.

Whatever his decision might have been, he wasn’t fast enough, and soon he too was lying on the ground, unconscious.

Jack managed to tie their hands with pieces of the curtain that used to cover the windows, then felt extreme dizziness wash over him. He crashed down next to Rose not much later, but barely realized it.

-

Rose blinked against the darkness. There was a stench in the room that made her nauseous, but she couldn’t tell what it was. It was almost sweet, somehow familiar but she was unable to pinpoint it. When she tried to sit up her head screamed at her. It felt like two times the size, also there was a weight on top of her. Slowly she reached out to it, quickly noticed that it was definitely an arm. When she turned her head to the side, she could see her husband’s face. He seemed to be sleeping, as far as she could tell in the darkness. Carefully she shoved his arm off of her, surprised when he didn’t even flinch or grumble like he usually would when she moved just a bit too much.

She needed a moment to locate the nightstand lamp in the darkness, then wondered where she had stashed the painkillers. Also why she was still wearing the dress she had worn to the meeting. And Jack certain wouldn’t sleep in a suit either. Also his location on the bed seemed rather random, almost as if someone had thrown him onto it and didn’t care that his legs were hanging out.

She barely remembered the evening and the clock showed that it was only 9PM. Had they taken a nap? She knew she was sometimes quite confused when she had been napping, but this seemed extreme. She couldn’t remember anything after she had left the meeting room.

Concerned and quite confused she shook her husband’s shoulder. “Jack?” She found it unusual when she received no reply, but assumed he was exhausted and decided to head to the bathroom and splash some water into her face.

That was when she noticed the two people on the ground, both tied, both unconscious. For a moment she found herself staring at them to make sure they were breathing, then she almost freaked out. One of them was her co-worker. He had followed her to the hotel after all. Taking Jack along didn’t seem like overreacting anymore.

Slowly fragments of the evening came back. Jack had attacked one of them, then someone grabbed her. That was all she remembered. She headed over to the other side of the bed to get to the phone, call the police. Or at least the lobby. They would know what to do, surely it wasn’t the first time someone had broken into a room.

Her headache long forgotten she dialed the number and let her gaze wander around the room, she saw something that made her end the call immediately and call an ambulance. Now she saw why her husband had been so unresponsive. Her hands were trembling, joined by her shaking legs and she had to sit down on the bed to keep herself from falling over. She tried to fight the fear, somehow managed to relay the necessary information to the woman who had picked up her call, but when she ended it, she couldn’t remember what she had said at all.

She reached for her husband’s shoulder, shook him slightly. “Jack!” she tried again, louder this time, worried and afraid. The sheets were stained red and while she knew it looked more than it was, the fact that the wound was still bleeding, couldn’t mean anything good. She took off one of the pillow cases  and pressed it against the wound, let go of a relieved sigh when he flinched at the touch. At least he was still alive. That took some of her worry away.

How they had gotten him, was beyond her. She just hoped help would be there soon and they wouldn’t ask too many questions, especially not about her husband.


End file.
